Improvement in motive powek



ANDREW JOHNSON AND WALTERH. ELLIOTT, OF BLOOMlN-GTON, ILLINOIS.

'Letters Patent No. 64370, dated May 14, 1867.

IMPROVEMENT IN MOTIVE POWER.

TO ALL WHOM IT MAY CONCERN: v

Be it known that we, ANDREW JOHNSON and-W. II. ELLIOTT, of Bloomington,in the county of McLean, and State of Illinois, have invented a new andimproved MotivcPower; and we do hereby declare that the following isafull, clear, and exact description thereof, reference being had to theaccompanying drawings, making a part of this specification, in which-Figure 1 is a plan view of the motive power. n

Figure isa vertical section through the apparatus, taken in the courseindicated by red line a' a'.

Figure 3 is a longitudinal section, taken in the vertical planeindicatedl by r'dline y y in lig. 2.

Figures 4 and 5 showside sections of the ported hub. l y

Similar letters of reference indicate corresponding parts in thesevcrhl'igures. A

This invention relates to a new and improved motive power, which is,designed for driving all kinds of machinery. It consists in thcapplication to a wheel, which is partly submerged in water or otherliquid, of air-tight expansible bags or buoys, which are applied nearthe circumference of this wheel, and communicate,

I through its ported hub, with bellows or other air-pumps, and-also withthe openair, all being so arranged that,

upon forcing air into those buoys which are beneath the surface of thewater, and at Vthe same time allowing the air.to escape from those buoyswhich are out ofthe water, the wheel will b-epcaused to rotate by thesuccessive ascension of the submerged buoys, as will be hereinafterdescribed.

The following description will illustrate one practical mode o fcarrying our invention into effect.A

In the accompanying drawings, A represents a rectangular vessel, whichis adapted for containing the mechanical movement which we are about todescribe. Thspvessel is divided into two apartments by a partition, A',and the apartment B is adapted for containingwater or other. liquid. Crepresents a wheel, which is secured to a horizontal shaft, D, so as torotate freely within the chamber B. This wheel is constructed with ahub, a, having a number of ports, b, through it, which ports arearranged concentrically and atv regular dis. tances apart around theaxis ofv the wheel, as shown in' ig.2. Twelve ports 6 are representedthrough 'said hub a. From this hub project twelve hollow spokes c, whichcommunicate at their inner ends with the ports 6,

and at their oute'r ends with bags or buoys d. These bags or buoys d maybe made ofV any exible substance I which is impervious to air theyshould be secured air-tight to the spokes, and may enclose the endsthereof. On that side of the hub a nearest to the partition A',- andrigidly secured to this partitiom'is a hub, e, which receives throughits centre the shaft D, and which forms an inner bearing for the latter.On the opposite end of the hub a, and rigidly secured to the side of thevessel A, is a corresponding hub-section, e', which receives the outerend of the shaft D through itsV axis, and forms a bearing therefor.Thevtwo hub-'sections e e" are applied to the ends of the turning hub ain the manner shown in fig. 3, or in any other suitable manner whichwill prevent the escape of air between the abutting surfaces and allowthe wheel C to rotate freely. The section e has a port, f, through it,communicating with a segmentgroove, f', upon the inner face of thissection, as shown in fig. 4. This port fis in a vertical plane.intersecting the axis of the shaft D, and. is the Ainduction port forforcing air into three of the ports b b b and bags' or bnoyslol atl oneand the same time. l The air is supplied under pressure from two bellowsE E, which communicate with the part f through hub e by means of thehorizontal pipe or conduit F, shown in figs. 1 and 3. Thesebellow's aredouble-acting, and are supported by means of standards G Gr, whichcarry, near their upper ends, horizontal rocl -shafts g g, to which are'pivoted the working-beams or levers H H. The hub-section e has sixports i through it, as shown in fig. 5, which, at certain times, formcommunications between tho ports b through thc hub a and the open air.These exhaust= ports L are so arranged with relation to the position ofthe ports b, whose buoys are out of the water, that, as soon as thebuoys rise out of the water the air is allowed to escape from them, sothat they descend into the watercmpty. The shaft D czrricson one end awheel, D, to the surface of which a pitma-n-rod, I, is attached, thelower end of which is-pivoted Ito an arm, J, projecting from ahorizontal rocli-shaft, Jl, below the pipe F. The shortest armsof'levers 'H H are connected,l by means of rods z'z, to the bellows'E E,and the 'longest arms of these levers H are connectedv to arms K K,projecting from rock-shaft J by means of pitman-rods L L.

It will be seen that when the wheel C is rotated the bcllowsrwill beoperated, and air willbe forced into those bags or buoys of wheel'Cwhich are inl communication with the port fand passage f. Upon fillingthree of. the expansible bags or buoys which are below the surface ofthe water with air, theylwill rise and carry down into the placesoccupied by them three empty buoys, which in their turn will be filledwith air, and caused to rise out of the water, thus lce1^r 'ying downthree more buoys to be filled with cir, and so on the buoys aresuccessfully submerged and filled with air, and caused to ascend bytheir superi-orbuoyuncy. As the lled buoys pass the exhaust portsthrough section c', the air escapes from them, so es to allow them te hecarried down into the water with comparatively little resistance.

AHering described one mode of carrying out ouil invention, we do notdesire to confine ourselves to the precise form and arrangement of pnrtsspecified, as these may be varied in many ways Without changing theprinciple of the invention. l

Having described our invention, what we claim as new, and desire tosecure by Letters Patent, is The motive power which is constructedand'opemted veubsta-ntizrlly as herein described.

ANDREW JOHNSON,

WALTER H. ELLIOTT. Witnesses:

B. F. BBTSER, Gn.' W. LICHTENTHOLER.

